What you need for this book

To follow the book in the best possible way I would recommend using a Linux-based web server, as most of the recipes are more Linux oriented than Windows. If you are a Windows user you'll probably be better off installing a virtual machine with Linux on it, or installing a Zend Server community edition to make sure your machine is compatible for Zend Framework 2 development (you can also do this without Zend Server, but it is just more convenient).